


Flying vs. Falling

by bellaP



Category: Batman - All Media Types
Genre: Brothers, Damian Wayne is Robin, Dick Grayson is Nightwing, Hurt Dick Grayson, Hurt/Comfort, Jason Todd is Red Hood, Tim Drake is Red Robin
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-01
Updated: 2020-07-02
Packaged: 2021-03-01 19:42:08
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 3,424
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23952487
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bellaP/pseuds/bellaP
Summary: Deathstroke has a contract to kill Red Robin, but his brothers won't let anything happen to Tim.
Comments: 22
Kudos: 182





	1. Chapter 1

Nightwing had been hunting these guys for weeks now. The goons had been setting up various heists all across Blüdhaven. Tonight’s heist was the endgame though. Dick had been hunting them long enough to know that they were leading up to something big. If he could catch them in the act, he could take down their whole organization. That’s why he was currently down at the harbor staking out the warehouse the bust was going down in. 

That’s when he got the call from Oracle. 

“Oracle to Nightwing, we need you in Gotham. Deathstroke has a contract on Red Robin. Red Hood and RR are being pursued now.” 

Nightwing needed this bust. He had been tailing these guys for a long time. Gathering all the intel he could, staying up all night staking them out and stopping them when things got out of hand. But his brother needed him more. Nightwing had been fighting Deathstroke for years now, he and Deathstroke had the most history out of all the Robins. Deathstroke had always been able to manipulate Dick and they were constantly fighting, but lately things had calmed down. Obviously not anymore, now that he had a contract to kill Tim. 

“On my way.” Was all Dick said before slipping out of sight and hopping on his cycle. He radioed the situation to the BPD and hoped they would be able to take care of it. He had enough evidence on these guys to put them away for good anyway. 

Dick didn’t know who could have possibly put a hit on Red Robin, and why Deathstroke would even bother to take it up. Deathstroke knew the Bats fairly well. A hit on a family member would mean they wouldn’t stop at anything to take down Deathstroke. 

Dick was going 100 down the highway swerving in and out of cars. He checked the coordinates Oracle had sent him and saw that he was 7 minutes away. 

“Nightwing to RR and Hood, status?” 

Jason’s voice came through his comm and Dick could hear grunts and gunshots. 

Definitely not good. 

“Well Goldie, me and RR here are currently dodging bullets on top of the building on East Street. Seems like your friend here has a hit on Red Robin.” Dick heard a small explosion followed by a grunt and pressed his foot harder on the gas.

“Yeah Oracle told me. I’ll be there in 6 minutes, think you can manage to not die ‘til then, Tim?” 

“I could make it at least 7 minutes, don't worry.” Dick let out a breath he didn’t even know he was holding. It was a relief to hear Tim’s voice through his comm. 

Dick ended up making it in 4 minutes.

Deathstroke was reloading his gun, but Dick managed to knock it out with one of his escrima sticks and then landed a kick to Deathstroke’s head before flipping over him and catching his flying weapon.

“Shoulda known you’d be coming. You know I’m only here to kill Red Robin, but I don’t have a problem killing anyone who gets in my way.” Deathstroke grunted pulling out a sword. 

“Yeah yeah, heard it all before Deathstroke. Who hired you.” Dick drew both escrima sticks out and drew a fighting stance. 

“Sworn to secrecy little birdie.” Deathstroke swung and Dick dodged before flipping over Deathstroke and striking him over the head. Deathstroke moved to sweep Dick off his feet, Dick easily dodged with a flip, but Deathstroke managed a kick to his chest before he was fully on his feet. Dick rolled backwards and stood back up, blocking the sword with his sticks.

A shot was heard and a bullet hit Deathstroke in the shoulder. Deathstroke stumbled back for a second and looked down at the bullet on the floor. 

“Rubber bullets? Really? You’re getting soft.” Deathstroke turned to face Red Hood which gave Nightwing the second he needed to land a hit on Deathstroke. 

“Red Robin get to the cave.” Dick muttered through his comm. 

“No. It’s me he wants Nightwing I can’t-” 

“Exactly RR. He’s not gonna stop until you're dead, you know that. Our best bet is to regroup at the cave.” 

Red Robin threw one of his shurikens’ hitting the same spot Jason had just a minute before. Jason was about to throw a punch at Deathstroke, but Deathstroke dodged it and hit Jason twice in the chest knocking him off his feet. 

“Goldie’s right.” Jason managed to cough into the comm while he tried to catch his breath. 

Steph’s voice then came on through the comm. 

“They’re right RR. Come to the cave and we can figure this out.” 

“How did you get on this frequency?” Jason grunted through the comm. 

“Babs. Obviously.” Jason could practically hear Stephanie’s smirk. 

“Fine. But my grapple snapped earlier, remember?” Tim was taking cover behind the heating duct of the roof. 

“Didn’t bring mine today.” Jason snapped.

“Take mine.” Dick said before throwing his over to Tim. Tim managed to escape while Dick continued keeping Deeathstroke distracted.

Deathstroke noticed Tim was gone and moved to go after him, but Dick landed another hit on his head and was going for another when Deathstroke grabbed his ankle, spun him around and threw him at the wall. 

Dick grunted as his body collided with the wall and he struggled to catch his breath. 

“Well if I can’t kill him right now, one of you is going to die tonight.” Deathstroke walked over to Jason who was still recovering from his previous hits. Jason managed two hits to Deathstroke before Deathstroke grabbed him and walked over to the edge of the building. 

Dick was finally recuperating and stood up to see Deathstroke draw his sword. 

Another shot was heard and Deathstroke stumbled back clutching his shoulder. 

“Not all my bullets are rubber, asshole.” Dick could tell Jason was smirking under his mask, but his moment of happiness was short lived as everything seemed to happen in slow motion. 

Deathstroke, still clutching his shoulder, managed to sweep Jason off his feet and send him teetering off the side of the building. 

Dick doesn’t think he ever moved faster in his whole life. 

In less than a second he was flying off the side of the building, sans grappling hook. He managed to collide with Red Hood, spinning midair so Jason was on top of him. Dick felt a sharp pain course through his body and then everything went black.


	2. Chapter 2

It took Jason a second to process what was going on and why he wasn’t dead. Sure, his body was sore. But nothing felt broken.   
It all came to him quickly after that. Him plummeting off the building, then the force of something grabbing him and twisting around. And now he was on the ground on top of someone. And that someone was…

“Nightwing.” Jason grunted out, getting off Dick and sitting next to him, hands hovering over his body, unsure what to do next. 

Dick was out cold. His right arm was sprawled out in an awkward way and his chest was barely moving. 

For a second it seemed like every single first aid lesson Jason had ever had left his head. 

Jason wouldn’t want to admit that he was panicking. But he was panicking. Dick had used himself as a human net in order to save Jason. 

Then Jason remembered Deathstroke and looked up to the top of the building, but Deathstroke was gone. 

“Red Robin to Red Hood and Nightwing, what’s your status?” Jason snapped back to reality at the sound of Tim’s voice. Jason hesitated for a second, but Tim cut in again. 

“We lost the cameras after you shot Deathstroke.” 

Jason was slightly grateful that they didn’t have to watch both of them plummet to what would be their deaths. 

“Yeah we’ve got a bit of a problem here.” Jason began tapping Dick’s face with his finger.

“Wing. Wake up man. We gotta get outta here.” 

Dick wasn’t moving. Jason couldn’t risk moving Dick in case he had spinal injuries, but they needed to get out of there. 

“What happened Jason?” Tim’s voice sounded a little frantic over the comm. 

“Big bird took a little tumble.” Jason muttered, taking off his gloves and checking Dick’s pulse. 

Definitely too slow. 

“Like off the building?” Tim’s voice was definitely frantic now. 

“Yeah.” Jason pulled his fingers away from Dick’s neck and stared down at his pale face. 

“Sorry about this Goldie.” Jason moved his hand to Dick’s broken arm and pressed down on it, wincing as he did so. It worked though, because Dick took in a sharp breath and his eyes shot open. 

“Jesus Wing, you’re gonna give us all a heart attack one of these days.” Jason let out a breath, but leaned forward so his face was in line with Dick’s. 

Dick blinked a bunch of times, and his eyes wouldn’t focus on Jason’s. 

“Part of m-my charm.” Dick was slurring his words and Jason didn’t think he was registering anything around him, but talking was a start. 

“I’m gonna need you to move your feet. Gotta see if you have spinal damage.” Jason was waving a finger in front of Dick’s face and Dick didn’t even seem to register it was there.

Dick didn’t answer, just kept moving his eyes all over the place.

“Wing. Come on man, move your feet.” 

Jason thought Dick hadn’t heard him again, but a long 10 seconds later he saw Dick’s feet begin to move back and forth.

“Alright good, good.” Jason activated his comm again. 

“RR can you send the batmobile our way? We’re gonna need an extraction. I don’t think he has spinal damage, but I can’t take him on my bike and he definitely can’t ride his own.” 

“Yeah, I’ll be there in 10.” Jason could hear scuffling in the background. 

“No. Not you. Deathstroke could still be nearby.” 

Before Tim had the chance to protest, Stephanie’s voice came through.

“I’ll come. I’m on my way.” 

Jason could practically picture Tim scowling at Stephanie, and almost laughed a little at that mental image. They just couldn’t risk bringing Tim back to the same spot he had almost just been killed in. 

Dick let out a small groan and Jason turned his attention back to him. 

“Jay? W-when did you get h-here?” Dick was squinting now, clearly trying to get his eyes to focus on Jason’s.   
So, he definitely had a concussion. And probably a pretty severe one. 

“Been here goldie. If you would keep your eyes open for more than 5 seconds, maybe you would know that.” Jason was getting impatient. He didn’t know how bad Dick was injured and he wanted to get back to the cave as soon as possible. 

“Head ‘urts.” Dick moved his good arm up to grip Jason’s jacket. 

“Well that’s what happens when you fall off a building, dumbass.” 

“Hm. I remember jumping.” Dick’s grip on Jason’s jacket tightened and he closed his eyes. 

“At least you remember something.” Jason moved his hand to the back of Dick’s head which caused Dick to wince. When Jason pulled his hand back, his hand was covered in blood. 

“How’s he doing Jason?” Tim was probably going crazy. Jason could picture him pacing the floor of the batcave feeling helpless. Jason had been in the same position countless times, when Batman would forbid him from going on an especially dangerous mission and he was left alone in the cave. 

“He’s pretty out of it.” Jason turned his attention back to Dick and his closed eyes. “You gotta stay awake Goldie.” Jason tapped Dick’s face again and Dick’s eyes opened again. 

“Jay?” Dick was blinking up at him again. 

“Yeah. Very out of it.” 

Luckily, Jason heard the familiar sound of the Batmobile’s tires and a second later it whipped around the corner and Steph jumped out. 

“Need a lift?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> More to come!!!!


	3. Chapter 3

Jason was so grateful for Steph and her smile when she popped out of the Batmobile. Despite Steph’s seemingly positive attitude, she immediately ran over to Dick and sat down next to Jason. 

“This is...bad.” Stephanie winced as she looked Dick up and down.

“No shit.” Jason wanted this to be over now. He wanted to be back at the cave with Alfred’s hot cocoa in his hands sitting in his room. He did not want to be dragging his self sacrificial idiot brothers body back to the manor. 

“Steph?” Dick blinked up at Stephanie in confusion not knowing when she had arrived. 

“Yeah it’s me Blue. Stop trying to get yourself killed okay?” Steph smiled sadly as she brushed back some of Dick’s hair from his forehead. 

“That’s a good suggestion.” Jason said before moving his arms under Dick, ready to pick him up and carry him to the batmobile. 

“This is probably gonna hurt Goldie.” 

Dick didn’t acknowledge Jason’s statement, and Jason didn’t know if it was because Dick had passed out again, or he really couldn’t process what was going on. He kind of hoped Dick was unconscious, for his own sake. 

Dick groaned when Jason picked him up, but Jason ignored it and started walking towards the batmobile when he heard Steph whisper a curse. 

“What?” Jason asked, but then he followed Stephs’ eyes down to Dick’s ankle, which was definitely broken and only noticeable when Jason had moved him. When Jason picked up Dick it probably jostled his ankle. 

“Fuck.” Jason just picked up his pace and gently laid Dick in the back of the batmobile, climbing in next to him. 

Steph got in the front and sped off, while Jason guided Dick’s head into his own lap. 

They had been riding in silence for a little while Jason just stared at Dick’s face.

“I was falling.” Jason said before he even realized he was saying anything. 

Steph didn’t say anything so Jason continued. 

“I was falling and I didn’t have my grapple. He jumped off after me.”

Jason was running his fingers through Dick’s hair and didn’t look away from his face which only seemed to get paler by the second. 

“Yeah. He does that. He’ll always do that for us. You know that.” Steph took a sharp turn, speeding up as she went.

The bat-family was filled with a bunch of emotionally stunted people, but they loved each other nonetheless. They would all take a bullet for one another, they all have taken a bullet for each other. But sometimes it felt like Dick was on a different level. 

Dick let out a pained sigh and his eyebrows were furrowed like he was in concentration. A few seconds later, his eyes fluttered shut again. 

“No, no you don’t Dickie. You gotta stay awake here. Head injury and all.” Jason shook Dick lightly, but Dick made no signs of movement. 

“Faster Steph.”  
_______________

When they finally made it back to the cave, Tim ran to the batmobile before Jason could even open the door. 

“Is he okay?” Tim opened the door on Dick’s side and helped Jason move to get him out. 

“Does he look okay Timmy?” Jason felt bad for snapping at Tim, but he was running out of patience. 

Jason carried Dick the rest of the way to the medbay where Alfred was standing by. 

“We will have to run some tests and do some X-rays. How long has he been unconscious for?” Alfred kept his voice steady, but they had all been in this long enough to know that he was worried. 

“I don’t know. 8 minutes? He’s been in and out since the fall though. Definite concussion.” Jason ran his hand through his hair and looked at Dick who was lying still on the cot while Alfred was running his tests. 

“I’ve called Dr. Thompkins, she should be arriving any minute.”

Alfred was now examining Dick’s ankle. Jason felt helpless. He had gotten Dick home, and managed to stay calm because he had to. But now? Now he couldn’t do anything but watch. And Jason hated that. Tim seemed to be thinking the same thing because he was fidgeting back and forth on his feet. 

“Perhaps you both could go upstairs and let her in when she arrives?” 

Jason and Tim nodded and turned towards the stairs thankful to have something to do. 

“You think he’ll be okay?” Tim asked when they reached the top of the steps.   
“He’s tough. You know that. He’ll- he’ll do what he can.” Jason sighed. 

Tim didn’t seem to be satisfied with this answer. He felt responsible for Dick getting hurt. Deathstroke had been after Tim and not anyone else. If something else happened to Dick because of this- Tim didn’t want to think about that. 

“Listen it wasn’t-” 

The doorbell cut Jason off and they went to let Leslie in. 

“Where is he?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it's taking awhile, I always lose motivation and then get it randomly. lol. Hopefully more soon!!!!!


	4. Chapter 4

Alfred had ushered Tim, Jason and Steph out of the room and convinced them to get a shower and change, seeing as they couldn’t do anything to help Leslie. 

Tim debated calling Bruce and Damian who were currently on a mission halfway across the world, but decided he would let Dick decide. That was Tim’s own way of convincing himself that Dick was going to be okay. If Dick was the one to have to call Bruce, then he couldn’t die.

A half hour after they showered Leslie walked out of the medical wing. 

“Well. His ankle’s broken, as well as his arm. Severe concussion. Several broken ribs and a few bruised ones. Be glad there is no spinal cord damage because I’m not sure if he would have been able to recover from that. He’s stable now, you can see him but he is pretty out of it.” 

Tim, Jason and Steph were heading towards Dick before Leslie even finished speaking. 

“Once again, thank you Doctor Thompkins.” Alfred said, reaching out his hand and shaking Leslie’s.

“Of course Alfred. Think you can keep them out of trouble for a while now?” Leslie said, smirking.

“I always do my best.” Alfred nodded and went to walk Leslie outside but he could hear the hushed conversation coming from where Dick was.

_______________

“Well, Goldie. Sure gave us a big scare there.” Jason said, plopping himself down on the end of the bed. 

“Mhm. You okay Jay?” Dick’s eyes were fluttering as he tried to move his head to get a better view of Jason. 

Jason just scoffed. 

“Dick, you gotta stop jumping off buildings.” Steph walked over to the chair by Dick’s head and sat on it, leaning forward so she could rest her head on the mattress.

“No can do Steph-a-roo. Jumping off things is in my blood.” Dick shot Steph a tired smirk which got a laugh out of Steph who then began running her fingers through Dick’s hair. 

Dick closed his eyes for a little bit. He wanted to stay awake for his siblings, but he was also becoming increasingly tired with every second that passed. He knows that he had chosen to jump off that building, and he would do it again in a heartbeat. But he could still hear the thud as he and Jason had hit the ground, right before he blacked out. The all too familiar sound that he would never stop hearing. He opened his eyes again when he felt someone sit down on his other side. 

“Dick. If Deathstroke hadn’t- you know. I just-” Dick cut Tim off. Of course Tim would think this was his fault. Tim had contingency plans for everything, he was like Bruce in that way. He should have had a backup backup grapple hook. Then none of this would have happened. 

“Tim. Not your fault. You know Deathstroke.” Dick moved his head to look at Tim and even though the movement sent his head spinning he fought to focus on Tim.

“I’d do it again. For any of you. I’ve got your backs.” Dick said and that seemed to calm Tim down a little. Tim gave Dick a small smile and leaned back in the chair he was sitting in. 

“Well, uh, since we're all thanking the martyr Johnny Cade here. Uh- thanks for jumping off that building.” Jason scratched the back of his head and was doing everything he could do to avoid eye contact, which he didn’t need to do because when he looked back at Dick his eyes were closed. 

“Dumbass.” Jason muttered, but he leaned forward and squeezed Dick’s hand, and was surprised when he got a weak squeeze back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not sure if I want to end it here or not, but if I do I feel like it is relatively complete. If I come up with any more ideas for this though, I'll add on. Let me know what you thought! Sorry it took so long.

**Author's Note:**

> Let me know how you like it so far!


End file.
